The cry of distress of Iranian women, France must hear this day international women's rights 2018

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It is this fight for light that Democrats around the world must support.

For International Women's Rights Day

Rama Yade

The Huffington Post, 8 March 2018 - As the Iranian theocracy celebrated its 39th anniversary, the world witnessed the shaking of its foundations through the protests in December and January, reminding everyone that the regime had misled the ideals of the Iranian revolution that had overthrown the world. thousand-year-old monarchical order. So it was a new dictatorship, this time in the name of religion, that the Iranians got.

The movement unleashed last December 28 was first of all a "revolt of hunger" of a people strangled by the economic disaster and the corruption of the regime. But, very quickly, he took a political turn to claim the end of tyranny, rejecting all the clans that helped perpetuate this regime, the so-called moderates as conservatives.

The crackdown was brutal and dozens of people were killed, including 12 in detention under torture. Several thousand demonstrators were arrested. Amnesty International has warned of the dangers of "peaceful demonstrators now in prison, where their living conditions are pitiful and torture is a common way to obtain confessions and punish dissidents." Five students from Tehran University, Yasamin Mahboobi, Soha Mortezaii, Faezeh Abdipour, Leila Hosseinzadeh, Negin Arameshi, have been detained and the families of the detained students are fearful for their safety.

As we celebrate International Women's Day today, it is important to remember the brave fight of Iranian women who resist a regime whose main feature is its misogyny and its opposition to the notion of equality between men and women. .

Indisputably, women played a remarkable role in this citizen surge that began in Mashhad, the second largest city in the country, and spread like wildfire to some 140 cities. They were numerous and offensive in these demonstrations which marked a new stage in the irreversible movement for the change in Iran. The videos shot in the protests and posted by opponents highlighted their brave leadership. In Qom or Hamedan, they were the first to launch the slogan "Death to the dictator, who died in Khamenei", even though the outrage against the mullahs' supreme leader is severely punished. Hasty footage clips show young women brave power in confrontations with riot police in Isfahan, Arak, Kermanchah, Zanjan, Ahvaz ...

It must be said that Iranian women have many reasons to revolt against the Islamist system.

First, they suffer daily with the imposition of a strict dress code, reinforced by a police of manners that does not hesitate to use violence and humiliation.

Women's rights activists are likely to denounce the systematic discrimination husbands permission to travel, work and attend classes at the university, some of their curriculum are otherwise prohibited; divorce deliberately hindered by legal obstacles even in cases of domestic violence etc ...

Not surprisingly, the World Economic Forum ranks Iran 140th out of 144 countries in the political and economic empowerment of women. This sad fact is not the result of Iranian traditions but the result of a political choice whose aim is to perpetuate a patriarchal system that is at odds with the aspirations of emancipation of a cultured and modern people.

The movement that has begun in Iran is a cry out of limbo. If the obscurantist regime persists in suppressing the anger of the street, it can not erase the causes. No people can be sentenced to life in darkness.

It is in this context that was held last February in Paris a tremendous demonstration of solidarity from prominent women activists from around the world in support of Iranian resistance including the emblematic Maryam Rajavi. This support was a strong signal for Iranian women from the inside fighting for their freedoms.

It is this fight for light that Democrats around the world must support. France can not remain indifferent to this cry of distress. It must begin by acting to secure the release of the imprisoned protesters.

Rama Yade Former Minister, Candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in 2017